closer than reality
by bravevulnerability
Summary: 'She was glad that he could at least seek solace in her, that they could work through this too as a team.' A post-ep for 6x05, Time Will Tell. COMPLETE.


Kate groaned as her phone vibrated against the assortments of lotions and body washes she had lined up along the polished wooden shelf beside her bathtub, catching the device before it could rattle its way over the edge.

She was officially off duty for the night. She knew she was still earning her place back at the precinct, but good grief she had just –

Oh. It was Castle.

"Hey, babe." she answered with a small grin adorning her lips as she sank back into the sea of bubbles and hot water.  
When the response to her greeting was what sounded like a muffled sniffle, her spine stiffened and she shot back up, water splashing out of the tub.

"Castle?" she questioned, her voice brimming with a mixture of concern and something too close to panic.

"You mind if I come over tonight?"

His soft spoken reply was enough to quell the rapid pounding of her heart and she pulled her knees to her chest.

"No, of course not."

"Good, 'cause I'm already at your door."

She chuckled, dropping her chin to her slick kneecaps.

"You got your key?"

The sound of her front door opening was answer enough and Kate clicked the phone off, stretched to set it back on the shelf, and waited.

Her heart sank a little when he shuffled into her bathroom with noticeably red-rimmed eyes and a childlike pout to his lips. She knew this look, recognized it from nearly a year ago when his daughter had moved out for the first time. The second time seemed to have hit him a little harder though.

She scooted backwards in the tub until her spine pressed up against the warmed porcelain and tilted her head towards the now cleared space before her.

"Get in."

He offered her a strained but grateful smile before willfully stripping of his clothes and stepping into the bath with her.

The steam and her body gradually curled around him as he laid back and settled into the comfort of her and the water, and although the melancholy of letting his daughter go was strong and radiating from him in waves, she was glad that he could at least seek solace in her, that they could work through this too as a team.

"You okay?" she murmured into his hair when he contently rested his head back against her chest.

"I don't know," he sighed sadly. "I just feel like she's making such a huge mistake and there's nothing I can do to stop her."

She smoothed her hands down his arms, gently squeezing the rigid muscles through her descent and twining their fingers when she reached his clasped over his abdomen.

"I know it's not what you want to hear, but she's going to make mistakes, Castle. But she's a smart girl and she'll learn from them, all of them, including this one."

"But it's too soon, it's-"

She squeezed their tangled hands together to calm him, already feeling the tension building in his body and hearing the hysteria clawing its way up his throat.

"It will always be too soon," she placated quietly, abandoning one of his hands to curl an arm around his neck and splay her palm over his sternum, over his anxiously pounding heart. "But trust me, she's going to figure things out for herself. It's just going to take some time."

He huffed, muttered something petulant about her being far too reasonable, and then he seemed to attempt relaxation, letting it all seep out of him for the night as his body finally loosened against hers.

"Thank you, Kate."

She brushed a kiss to his temple and wrapped her legs around his waist. "Always."

"You sure you'll be able to handle these little pity parties three more times?"

She froze, her breath catching hard in her throat, and she knew he felt it instantly because gentle laughter at her expense started to fill the air.

"Especially when you're senator?" he mused, affectionately clutching one of her shins under the water. "However will you have the time?"

Kate withdrew her other hand from his and playfully smacked him on his bicep.

"Shut up," she muttered, hiding a smile in the wet skin of his shoulder.

He turned his head and pressed his lips to the line of her jaw, trailing his mouth across the skin he could reach until she lowered her head to kiss him properly, but chastely.

"I am looking forward to our future," she whispered, the corners of her mouth quirking upwards when it was suddenly his breathing that stuttered. "I look forward to being your wife, to making a family with you, raising them, loving them, all with you as my partner in everything."

"Kate." he breathed softly, carefully disentangling his body from hers and sitting up, turning around to see her with a shining combination of awe and wonder replacing the sadness that had filled the sapphire pools of his eyes when he had first arrived at her apartment. And the fact that she put that there, that she could play such a large role in making him so purely happy, had her insides flipping with selfish delight.

He reached for the plug in the drain and stood up, holding out his hand for her as he stepped out of the bathtub and onto the plush mat on the floor. He enveloped her slick body into a hug once she was standing beside him and kissed her hard.

"I love you, Kate Beckett." he murmured after a thorough caress of his tongue over hers that left her wanting so much more.

"I love you too," she panted, closing her fingers around his ears and sealing her lips to his once more before she shivered and moved away, grabbing a towel from the edge of the sink and retrieving an extra for him.

"Go to your drawer, get dressed," she said, tossing him a towel that flew to hit him across the face and had her biting back a laugh. "I'll be there in a minute."

"Dressed? Why should I get dressed? Don't you want to _practice_?"

She shot him a glare that dissolved all too quickly, because she knew her eyes were too alight with mirth, joy, and love for her fiancé.

_Fiancé_. Damn that still got to her sometimes.

Kate waited until Rick had sauntered out of the room to brace herself over the sink and take a deep breath. The information from Simon Doyle, their supposed time traveller, had been a lot to take in.

Senator Beckett? Three kids? _Three?_

Of course, none of the ramblings Doyle had fed them were solid. There were no guarantees her future with Rick would happen the way the seemingly deranged man had spoken of it, but she couldn't say she minded her hypothetical destiny too much.

The thought of having a life with Castle, having _kids_ with him, didn't scare her, didn't terrify her like it once might have, but it was still pretty overwhelming to think about.

It had definitely overwhelmed her when she had been late the week before.

She hadn't told him about that yet, she wanted to, still intended to, but so much had been going on in the last few days between her return to the Twelfth and Alexis moving in with her boyfriend and out of the loft. She simply and sincerely hadn't found the time to tell him about the pregnancy scare, about how she'd run out to the pharmacy down the street at nearly two in the morning last Wednesday and grabbed the first three pregnancy tests her hands had landed on in the family planning aisle, how she'd stayed up for another hour, peeing on sticks and waiting in anticipation.

All three had come back negative, and she had ultimately been relieved. But there had been a moment while she was waiting for the results that she had hoped for a blue line of positivity to appear instead of a red one, for a yes instead of a no, and pure longing had rushed over her like a tidal wave, fleeting but fierce as it swamped her. Images of a perfect little boy with crystal blue eyes and chestnut brown hair running around the loft while she and Castle fondly watched after him had inhabited her imagination, and she easily recognized that a family with him was something she seriously wanted, desired. Maybe not at this particular moment, but in the future – the near future – she wanted marriage, children, everything she had always thought of as a pipe dream since her mother had died. And she wanted it with the man in the next room, who was currently humming the chorus of some pop song she loathed as he waited for her to join him.

She smirked and slipped on the oversized t-shirt and cotton boy shorts she'd placed on the closed toilet seat before getting in the bath. Although, she had a feeling they wouldn't be staying on long, not when she enjoyed practicing with him oh so much.

* * *

_**A/N: I'm not necessarily happy with it, but all my thanks if you took the time to read this. **_

_**Feedback is always welcome and appreciated.**_


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